Enter your email to subscribe:

"The Senate Judiciary Committee has set a date for the start of nomination hearings on Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be associate justice of the Supreme Court: July 13." So reports the Washington Post here.Other outlets are reporting the same date based on Senator Patrick Leahy's statement.

Because Judge Sotomayor’s opinions are so fact-based and rarely stray far from well-established precedents, they are often difficult to characterize as either liberal or conservative. It is worth noting, however, that Judge Sotomayor has not written about many of the hot button topics that often dominate public discussions about the Supreme Court. Despite a lengthy judicial tenure, her opinions have not directly addressed a wide range of issues that frequently appear on the Supreme Court’s docket, including abortion, gay rights, presidential power, and the death penalty.